St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-09-06
A TENEMENT BURNED.
Wild Excitement Created by an
Early Morning Fire.

Early Morning Fire.
NEW YORK, Sept. 5.-An alarm of fire
was raised about O'Clock this morning
Eleventh avenues. 1t was no sooner
heard than scene of the widest excite
ment and panic ensued The block is
filled with tenement houses on both
sides of the street. The fire was in the
five-Story dOuble-decker, No. 522, which,
with four others adjoining it, are owned
by Messrs. Potter Bros. The buildings
are of brick and have about seyenty-tive
feet depth. Four families live on each
floor. In the basement are wood houses
and coal bins. The fire apparently started
in one of the wood houses, shot up
through the air shaft, burned its way
toward the stairway and spread its force
in the upper stories. Luckily several
apartments in the house had not been
occupied recently. and there were only
eleven families living there. They
were
PANIC-STRICKEN.
They had to find their way through
the smoke, men carrying children and
women with their arms full of clothing,
household effects, etc. A panic equally
as great occurred in the houses 51S and
$50, when really there was no danger.
To add to the horror the gas was turned
off, and in the excitement no light could
be had. The people, frantic in their
and trampled upon one another, and in
the dark there was a struggling, surg
ing mass of humanity. The police had
gone to the top floor, leaving Officer
Haggerty on the third, where he was
assisting little girl to get out. He
helped her down the stairs, and just
then the flames began to show them
selves on the third floor and cut off his
escape. His right hand was severely
burned. He rushed to the top story
and got out on the roof with Officer
Borphy. They climbed down to the adj
joining roof and came down through
that building. The escape of the peo-
pie i'll the burning building was most
fortunate. Those ON the first floor got
out without any trouble and those on
the upper floor left by the way of the
fire escapes. Some of them went up to
the roof and escaped to the adjoining
building, and few managed to get
down stairs through the smoke and ad-
vancing flames. The excitement was
intense. Women shrieked and children
cried. The firemen
AIDED CALAMITY
in the escape of the inmates. The
flames shot up the stairway and ate
their way to the front of the building.
They rapidly shot out on all sides,
through the windows and the roof. The
inmates of 51S and $40 became alarmed
and left their rooms. They had to do
so in the dark, as the gas had been
turned off. James Harmon Jumped
from the roof of SIS to SIG and had his
leg broken. A man named Dowd fell in
the street and cut his head. A little
girl was left on the balcony of the top
story of 519, but was rescued by fire.
man. Fireman Mcnamara and some
firemen were in the third story when a
huge tank crashed through the roof.
They had a narrow escape from being
killed. 1t fell within a few feet of
them and two of the men were struck
by falling timbers and bricks. Fireman
William Mobiles was at work in the yard
when huge pile of bricks fell down
from the roof, almost burying him. He
was badly bruised about the body. The
fire burned through the two upper
stories, badly quitting them. 1t was
nearly o'clock before the fire was got
under control. 1t was Iumored that
several people had been burned, but
after the flames were extinguished the
firemen made careful search of the
burned building, but no bodies were
discovered. The occupants of the
burned building lost everything they
possessed, and only one of them was in
sured. The loss to the building is about
$4,000, and that to the occupants will be
about 3d. 600.